If you accept credit and debit cards as a form of payment you may be at risk for unnecessary rate increases!

Each April and October the card brands make updates to the interchange fees paid by all merchants. These fees are actually billed to the merchants acquirer/processor who then marks up these rates and adds their own fees before passing it on to the merchant. Although most changes are raising or adding new fess, they also lower and sometimes remove certain fees. Regardless of the changes, this provides an opportune time for ISOs and acquirers to also increase their rates to customers. Sometimes all these increases are blamed on Visa, MasterCard, and Discover, when in fact the ISO or acquirer is also increasing their profit margins.

What does this mean for you as the business owner???

With October approaching, now is the time your provider will begin to notify you of the changes in your rates and/or fees.

If you do not have someone like Wimsett & Company who regularly audits your statements for you, you need to be looking at your card processing statements for any acquiring fee increases and statement notices. Rate changes and other statement notices are usually printed on the last page of the statement.

These fee increases could appear on your statements as the following:
Mid and Non Qual increases or adjustments
Batch fee increases
Monthly fee increases
Reward increases or card reclassifications (sometime providers will not announce any price changes but instead, “reclassify” how certain transactions will qualify going forward. Trust us, this is usually nothing more than a disguised price increase.

No business should have to fall subject to hidden or unnecessary rate increases by their credit card processing company. If Wimsett & Company is not your advocate, be your own advocate! Ask and question your provider and try to stop these increases from happening to you.

If you have any further questions or if you need help reviewing your statements call Wimsett & Company today!